The roadmap looks at the current state of play regarding sustainable packaging in the dairy industry and what needs to be done as the industry works towards achieving the 2025 National Packaging Targets.
Considerable progress has already been made by dairy manufacturers, but the industry continues to face a series of barriers and challenges.
The new roadmap provides a collective vision and framework for improving the sustainability of dairy packaging moving forward, along with direction for the industry on the progress now required, highlighting opportunities for collaboration on the road towards the 2025 targets and the development of a sustainable circular packaging ecosystem in Australia.
As part of the plan laid out in the roadmap, dairy manufacturers will review all of their packaging to identify and implement opportunities to optimise for sustainability.
This includes exploring possibilities for the elimination and/or reduction of packaging items, reusable packaging, improved recyclability and the increased use of recycled content.
To achieve these goals, dairy industry manufacturers are seeking support from other stakeholders.
The roadmap lays out a number of actions needed across the supply chain, including:
● Packaging manufacturers and researchers to innovate and develop alternatives to non-recyclable packaging formats.
● Recyclers to provide sufficient quantities of food-grade recycled resins to allow manufacturers to meet recycled content targets without compromising product quality and safety.
● Consumers to reuse or recycle dairy packaging at end of life.
● National, state, territory and local governments to provide fit-for-purpose regulatory frameworks, to ensure safety standards and verification of end-to-end resource recovery and recycling systems, through: the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 (NEPM); Food Standards Australia and New Zealand; industry-based regulators; and other instruments as required to support achievement of the 2025 targets and ensure appropriate safety standards are in place.
The roadmap was developed in collaboration with the Australian dairy manufacturing industry with extensive consultation across the entire dairy packaging value chain over more than 18 months.
Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation chief executive officer Brooke Donnelly said the roadmap clearly laid out the path the dairy industry needed to take to achieve the 2025 targets.
“Collective action across the supply chain is an absolute necessity and it is fantastic to see the willingness already on display across the dairy industry to make the transition to a more sustainable model,” she said.
Dairy Australia managing director David Nation said the development of the roadmap was another great example of collaboration across the dairy industry.
“It’s the first time a national dairy sector has come together anywhere in the world at this level to endorse a collective call to action and work together to deliver a sustainable approach to packaging,” he said.
Thirteen dairy manufacturers and the three major retailers had formally endorsed the roadmap, Australian Dairy Products Federation's Janine Waller said.
She said in 2019-20, the dairy processing industry re-invested nearly $476 million in capital and had a record of investing in sustainability initiatives with a focus on reducing packaging waste.
Fonterra’ s Jenny Phillips said when it comes to making packaging more sustainable, particularly for dairy products, "it’s not an easy process and there are lots of challenges to overcome".
“However, by working together as an industry we can not only reach the 2025 National Packaging Targets, we can do so faster — which is a great thing for our environment,” she said.
Bega's Mark McDonald confirmed his company was "fully aligned with the industry roadmap that has been put forward and we are committed to delivering on our own sustainability targets as well as the 2025 National Packaging Targets”.
The full report is available at: https://documents.packagingcovenant.org.au/
